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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034252">Desolate yet all undaunted</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodenwashbucket/pseuds/woodenwashbucket'>woodenwashbucket</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bruce Wayne is Batman, Canon What Canon?, Gen, Gratuitous sneaky poetry references, I wrote this because the idea wouldn't leave me alone, Jason Todd is Red Hood, No editing we die like mne, Rooftop Conversations, Why did Jason Todd start wearing the Bat symbol?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 06:28:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>622</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034252</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodenwashbucket/pseuds/woodenwashbucket</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Emotional late-night conversations between Batman and one of his former Robins on a Gotham rooftop usually happen after something goes wrong on patrol, not after something goes right. Jason isn't your typical former Robin.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jason Todd &amp; Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>137</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Desolate yet all undaunted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I was thinking of different ways the Red Hood could be viewed by Gotham, and how that might change over time, and how much of that change might be due to deliberate effort on Jason's part, and I was also wondering when and why Jason started wearing the Bat symbol, and then this sprang forth very nearly fully formed of its own accord.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jason felt, rather than heard, the shadow land on the gargoyle just outside Jason’s peripheral vision. He could have turned his head, but kept staring off into the blank wall of the skyscraper in front of him. Where Jason sat, back against the low wall that circled the deck separating the lowest from the middle section of the building, he was all but invisible from any angle.</p><p>“Know why I chose the Red Hood?” he asked the night.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Neither do I.” Jason’s fingers didn’t stop tracing the bat symbol on his chest, two nights old and already painfully familiar the first time he’d put it on. He felt like he was playing dress-up, more than he even had his first time wearing Dick’s old Robin outfit.</p><p>The silence was unbroken. Jason eventually went on.</p><p>“I don’t remember a lot of the planning. I’m not trying to say I didn’t know what I was doing, when I came back. I’m not…I’m not abdicating responsibility or whatever.”</p><p>“We’ve been over that.”</p><p>“But there were other options, for getting Sionis to spring <em>him</em>, and I don’t know why I chose this one. I don’t remember. And then I’d built this presence, y’know? And at some point I just, I don’t know, decided it would be too much work to pick a new person to be. Easier to change what the Red Hood meant. Means.”</p><p>After a while, the darkness gave him an answer of sorts.</p><p>“You were in range of Oracle’s supplemental surveillance earlier.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Kid, are you okay? It’s safe to come out now.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kid? Are you hurt? I’m here to help you. Uh, let me take this off. See? I’ve got a face and everything.”</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>“She was scared of me, at first.”</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>“…Batman?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Not exactly. Sorry.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’ve got a bat.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Not everybody with a bat is Batman, you know.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re not Batgirl.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, I’m not.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Or Black Bat, or-“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kid, can you come out so I can make sure you’re not injured?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m. I’m friends with Batman, okay? And Batgirl, and everybody. And I’m here to help.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“…Okay.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Okay. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Until she saw this.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“You’re the Red Hood, aren’t you?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“…Yeah.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“My cousin says the Red Hood is dangerous.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I am dangerous.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“My cousin says the Red Hood is bad.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Well, your cousin might be a little out of date on that one.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Huh?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get you home. You said it was three more blocks toward the river?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Uh huh. You don’t seem dangerous to me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh really? That why you’re falling asleep on me? Careful, I might drop you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Nuh uh.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mhm. You’re not dangerous. You’re safe.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Who looks at-“ Jason waved a hand, encompassing the helmet by his foot, the guns and knives strapped to his thighs and torso, the gloves with clear worn spots on the knuckles and trigger fingers. “Safe?”</p><p>“Hmm,” the presence on the gargoyle hummed. “For her, yes.”</p><p>“That’s what this can do, I guess,” Jason murmured. He resumed running his fingers around the bat on his chest.</p><p>“Not that. You.”</p><p>Jason blinked, and turned to look at his father.</p><p>Batman looked squarely back at him.</p><p>“You’re the Red Hood, Jason. Putting a bat on your chest doesn’t change that.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“You want more people to look at you like that girl did earlier. You want to be safe, to them. Like I am.”</p><p>Jason closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Hmm.” Jason heard the click and twang of a grapple line being shot. He felt, rather than heard, the shift of boots readying to leap. “Then keep doing what you did tonight. Change what the Red Hood means.”</p>
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